The Eiffel Tower closed to the public today, December 27, after unionized staffers went on strike to protest the tower management’s current operations. The iconic Parisian landmark was intentionally shuttered on the 100th anniversary of the death of its architect, civil engineer Gustave Eiffel.
The union strike was reportedly in response to the contract set forth by Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE) and budget negotiations with the city of Paris, and it is not yet clear whether this will be a one-day action or the strike will continue indefinitely. Earlier today, Barron’s reported that the union was protesting “the current way [the tower] is managed,” stating that SETE was “heading for disaster” through a business model that overestimates the anticipated number of visitors to the popular site and underestimates the costs of its maintenance.
Neither SETE nor the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT) union immediately responded to Hyperallergic‘s inquiries.
The tower’s annual visitor count was a paltry 1.16 million in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, but rebounded significantly in 2022 to 5.85 million visitors. SETE states on its website that 75% of the tower’s visitors are foreigners. According to Barron’s, CGT claimed that SETE’s budget plan for 2024 was rooted in an estimate of 7.4 million visitors to the tower — a figure that has “never been reached.” The expected swell in tourism in Paris related to the upcoming 2024 Summer Olympics contributed to SETE’s estimated tourism figure.
Though the tower itself is closed, the official website outlines that the ground-level glass esplanade is still accessible and that a sound and light concert honoring Gustave Eiffel was slated for this evening.